capture of their
"English brothers." They had not forgotten the conduct of Celeron de
Bienville in the previous year, and the mysterious plates which he had
nailed against trees and sunk in the ground. A council of the nation
was now held, in which Gist invited them, in the name of the governor
of Virginia, to visit that province, where a large present of goods
awaited them, sent by their father, the great king, over the water to
his Ohio children. The invitation was graciously received, but no
answer could be given until a grand council of the western tribes had
been held, which was to take place at Logstown in the ensuing spring.

Similar results attended visits made by Gist and Croghan to the
Delawares and the Shawnees at their villages about the Scioto River;
all promised to be at the gathering at Logstown. From the Shawnee
village, near the mouth of the Scioto, the two emissaries shaped their
course north two hundred miles, crossed the Great Moneami, or Miami
River, on a raft, swimming their horses; and, on the 17th of February,
arrived at Piqua, the principal town of the Twightwees or Miamis; the
most powerful confederacy of the West, combining four tribes, and
extending its influence even beyond the Mississippi. A king or sachem
of one or other of the different tribes presided over the whole. The
head chief at present was the king of the Piankeshas. At this town
Croghan formed a treaty of alliance in the name of the governor of
Pennsylvania with two of the Miami tribes. And Gist was promised by
the king of the Piankeshas that the chiefs of the various tribes would
attend the meeting at Logstown to make a treaty with Virginia. [In the
height of these demonstrations of friendship, two envoys from the
French governor of Canada entered the council-house and sought a
renewal of the ancient alliance. But the Piankesha chief turned his
back upon the ambassadors, and left the council-house.]

When Gist returned to the Shawnee town, near the mouth of the Scioto,
and reported to his Indian friends there the alliance he had formed
with the Miami confederacy, there was great feasting and
speech-making, and firing of guns. He had now happily accomplished the
chief object of his mission--nothing remained but to descend the Ohio
to the Great Falls. This, however, he was cautioned not to do. A large
party of Indians, allies of the French, were hunting in that
neighborhood, who might kill or capture him. He crossed the river
a